The Legend of Stinky

We like to name our cars. Gordon's truck is 'Big Red', Rich's truck is 'Great White', Jessica's is the 'Mystery Machine' aka the 'Green Wienee', my car is 'Lady Wilson'. James and Suzanne had 'Commando' and now a car named 'Gandolf''. I don't think Scott has named his yet and I haven't heard any names for Ben & Laura's cars.

One of our all time favorite names is 'Stinky'. Stinky began life as a brand new car Larry & Janie purchased. It eventually went through their kids (I seem to remember Amy taking the side mirror off backing out of the garage; correct me if I'm wrong). By the time Rich had his drivers license, it was available for him to drive. Life then consisted of early morning paper routes for Richard and Ben and James and occasionally Scott (if Rich was feeling 'queasy'). Have you ever smelled a car that, over time, has a hundred or so papers rolled in it every morning?

Think somewhere between wet dog and stale bread. 'Stinky' was an understatement, but it fit so well.

He wasn't anything fancy - but functional. Stinky served the boys for a couple of good years, got good gas mileage, and survived quite well....

Until James got his drivers license. He took Stinky for the first time. When he came home and got out, I happened to be standing on the front porch. "What in the world happened to Stinky? His front end is smashed in!"

James' response? "Nothing happened; that's the way it (the front end) has always looked."

For hours he tried to convince us all that we were crazy. Stinky looked totally normal.

Of course, when his father came home, his tune changed and the jig was up. He had rear ended someone while taking Stinky on his first (official) maiden voyage. I say official because James didn't feel the need to wait for a silly thing like a license to drive. But that's another story.

Stinky survived a lot, and although he survived James' maiden voyage, all good things must end and so did he.

Long live the legend of Stinky.